Quick Start Guide for medium-size businesses

1

Access your Admin console

The Google Admin console is where administrators manage Google services for people in an organization. 

Learn how

• Sign in to your Admin console
• Open the Admin console from your other apps
• Switch between your admin and personal account

2

Run a pilot (optional)

Try Google Workspace with a small number of users to evaluate Gmail, data migration, and mobile access. Piloting doesn't interrupt anyone's current mail service, and everyone keeps using their current email address.

Note that to pilot Gmail, you don't have to change your domain's MX records to point to Google.

Learn how

To let a few users evaluate Gmail and other services:

1. During signup, skip the step to activate Gmail for your domain (you'll do that later).
2. Run a 5-step pilot

3

Prepare your communications

Start notifying your team about the switch to Google Workspace. Customize your internal communications with Google-branded logos to prepare your users for the transition.

Learn how

• Google Workspace logos and branding guidelines

4

Add remaining users

After your pilot (or if you skip the pilot), add accounts for any remaining users. You can add users individually or by uploading a spreadsheet. We also provide tools to synchronize user accounts with Microsoft Active Directory or another LDAP server.

Learn how

• Options for adding users
• Create custom directories for teams or groups

5

Set up business email for your domain

If you're done with your pilot and haven't yet activated Gmail for your domain, do so now. You need to change your domain’s MX records to direct mail to Google's mail servers. We also recommend you add an SPF record to your domain settings.

Don't worry if you're not sure what MX or SPF records are. Just see below for steps.

• Activate Gmail for Google Workspace (change MX records)

  Skip if you did this when signing up.

• Ensure mail delivery and prevent spoofing (add SPF record)  
• Give a user an additional "alias" address (sales@)
• More Gmail setup...

6

Set up your organization's account

Set up

• Add your business logo
• Set up 2-step verification
• Manage billing and payments
• Choose when users get new features
• Follow security best practices

Region specific

• Turn on or off Gmail, Chat, and Meet smart features and personalization
• Legal and compliance resources and tools

7

Migrate users' mail, calendar, & contacts

Use our migration tools to import your team’s existing emails, calendar events, and contacts to Google Workspace. You can migrate data directly from Microsoft Exchange, HCL Notes (formerly IBMNotes), or another IMAP server. Or, you can let your team import their data by themselves. 

Learn how

• Migrate your organization's data to Google Workspace

8

Set up & manage mobile devices

Let your team get email, calendar events, and documents while they’re on the go. Turn on security features and set up your team with Google Workspace for mobile devices.

Learn how

• Manage mobile devices for your organization

9

Get administrator training & deployment resources

Learn how

• Admin training courses and certifications
• Admin help and support
• Enterprise deployment resources

10

Train your users

Get training guides, tips, customer examples, and other resources to help you and your users get started with Gmail, Calendar, shared docs, video meetings, and more.

Learn how

• Visit the Google Workspace Learning Center